But as waves of “progress” drove people from their farms and into the city, as the veneration given to knowledgeable farmers was transformed into comic-relief stereotypes about toothless hillbillies, as movies like Deliverance made mountain people into boogeymen, and as the suburban sprawl slowly transformed the ideal life from self-sufficient responsibility to keeping-up-with-the-Joneses dependency, the desire to live that way of life fell out of fashion.  Even while preservation projects like Bittersweet and Foxfire tried to gather up as much old knowledge and wisdom as they could, the inevitable passage of time closed up that opportunity for firsthand recollection.  Now, the harsh reality is that everyone who had direct access to that time period is gone.  And sometimes, even the most modern person can feel it.  How often have you heard someone pick up an old tool, look at an old hand-carved cabinet, or see endangered heritage cattle and mutter, “They don’t make them like they used to…”

So here is where I find myself as a new homesteader in the modern era: a bit adrift.  Maybe you understand—my background may sound familiar.  My grandparents spurned their farming roots and lived a suburban life where modernity was king.  My parents raised me with what they knew, which was a continuation of the middle-class “dream” of going to college, getting into debt, graduating with no real skills, getting a lackluster job to pay off the debt, and paying services to take care of tasks they didn’t know how, or want, to do.  Now, I’m not necessarily a card-carrying Luddite (I am writing articles on a computer for websites, after all), but I can’t accept forgetting thousands of years worth of knowledge and self-sufficiency in exchange for pizza delivery, an electrician repair bill, and Netflix.

Suffice to say, though, I’m certainly not popular with my smartphone-addicted peers, I’m not satisfied with the sort of life I was handed.  As an off-grid homesteader, completely at odds with my upbringing, I want to rediscover all the life-knowledge that everyone once knew only two hundred years ago.  Maybe you understand that same desire.  But where do we look?  Maybe you, like myself, have no elder or mentor to guide you—they’re all too long gone.  And maybe you’ve also found that many Internet resources and modern books on homesteading and living off the land are unsatisfactory, to say the least.  I’ve seen topics that seem to just be mentioned with no real source of sources for homesteading knowledge or experience—books sold for attractive pictures, rather than the richness of content.  I’ve found rampant plagiarism, with familiar paragraphs skipping across articles and titles.  Many modern resources, without life experience bolstering them, even convey totally incorrect information, perhaps because editors don’t know that it’s wrong in the first place (admittedly, a hard thing to correct when lots of similar resources cite the same misconception as fact!  I’ve found lots of instances of this in foraging books and gardening books in particular).

So, as cast-offs of the modern era, our backs turned to the roiling chaos of the city, our faces searching the horizon for a bit of land where we can put it all into practice, and no childhood training to fall back on, where can we turn for real, detailed, rich, reliable resources of the stable, old ways of doing things?

This question has both haunted and driven me for nearly a decade.  And as this is something that directly influences my way of life, I have been highly motivated to find the answer—the success of my own homestead has hinged on some of the answers I’ve found.  I have searched like a post-apocalyptic scavenger, picking over the scattered bones of buried documentaries, dusty, out-of-print books, and forgotten projects to try to glean bits of old wisdom and knowledge.  I bring them home and hang them on the still-forming scaffolding of my direct experiences, my homestead a growing patchwork of modern and ancient ideas and practices.  It all echos with a lot of loss and a little bit of hope, a strange bittersweetness woven between my rows of heirloom corn, sapling-sized food forest, and compost piles.  Now, I’m aware that what I’ve found is no substitute for a childhood of experience, training, or a committed community of like-minded families, but it’s the best I can offer in this article.

So all that said, here are some fascinating sources for homesteading knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration with complex, detailed instruction. Hopefully, it can help you along your way too.

Foxfire and Bittersweet

In the 1970s, Elliott Wigginton, a teacher in the Appalachia Mountain area, had an interesting idea to teach his students about journalism, photography, and writing by sending them to interview their mountain-born grandparents.  This after-school program soon blossomed into a full-scale preservation project to capture and record Appalachian life before it disappeared.  Not merely a record, however, the volumes of the Foxfire project include detailed diagrams, long-form interviews, and instructions on many living-off-the-land skills.  There are at least 12 volumes of the Foxfire project—those looking for old knowledge are best off looking specifically at the first 6, when Wigginton still headed the project.

Inspired by the Foxfire project, Ellen Gray Massey, a teacher in the Ozark Mountains, headed up a similar journalism program with her own students.  Bittersweet is a similar record of Ozark life, and while I’ve never found it in print, the entirety is available online at this website.

Online Facsimiles of Books, Such as Project Gutenberg

The Project Gutenberg website is overwhelming in its scope, to say the least, but if you know what to look for, it’s a goldmine.  Essentially, you can find facsimiles of very old, very out-of-print books here.  This is a great resource for those of us with small local libraries that can’t hold thousands of old books just to hold them.  Books that I’ve found bits of helpful information in include

Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea, and Japan, by F.H. King: https://www.scribd.com

Lady’s Country Companion:  The Lady’s Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally by Loudon – Free Ebook (gutenberg.org)

BBC’s “Farm” series

I once asked a fellow homesteader where old knowledge might be hiding, and she directed me to this treasure trove. Alex, Peter, Tom, and Ruth are British archaeologists and historians who decided to explore history as actively as possible—by dedicating several years of their lives to literally live it out on working farms.  Each season of the show explored a different time period.  In all their attempts, by putting dusty old words into living practice, they understood the day-to-day nuances that are sometimes impossible to put to paper.  They also interviewed and learned with old craftsmen—sometimes the last of their kind—to capture a bit of their expertise in person.  If you look hard enough, you can find every episode on Youtube (as of March 2026, all the links I have below are valid).

• Secrets of the Castle
• Tales from the Green Valley
• Tudor Monastery Farm
• Edwardian Farm
• Victorian Farm
• Wartime Farm
• Full Speed Ahead

Grandfather Documentary

On the surface, this is just a wordless documentary of an old man going about his yearly business as he provides for himself with his gardens and fields.  But it’s so beautiful it can make the heart hurt if you’re the person whose been looking to also embody this man’s knowledge.  Worth the watch for the imagery alone, Grandfather is a rare glimpse into the hard work and rich life lived by those who understand how to live off the land.

Eric Sloane

Eric Sloane started out as a sign-painter and weatherman with an interest in old bridges.  But that interest soon blossomed into a lifelong fascination with old buildings, old manners of building, old ways of doing things, and America’s farming and homesteading past.  In all of my explorations for any sort of record of living and working, few sources have been as rich and detailed as his work.

They’re not a dry read, either!  If ever there was a title for Official Curmudgeon, Eric Sloane would have been a prime candidate.  His grumpy-old-man tone is endearing and amusing as he talks about the America that once was, and what it has become in the dulling wake of modern living.  His extensive collection of books is excellently and beautifully illustrated, with clear diagrams and notes of details that are often overlooked.

If he were still alive, he’d understand my drive for finding real information about the old ways.  Even when he was writing and illustrating his books in the ’50s, artist and author Eric Sloane also experienced a similar sense of dissatisfaction. In one of his books, he relates the story of searching through New York’s library system for a book detailing old ways of building barns—he knew there were notable gaps in his understanding.  After much searching, the librarian handed him their only resource on the topic…his own earlier book.

You’ll be rewarded reading any of his books, but a good handful to start with are:

A Reverence for Wood: A useful collection on early America’s deep understanding of different types of wood and how to use them.

American Yesterday:  A detailed delve into how “grandfather”(though, in 2021, it’s really great-grandfather, or great-great grandfather) lived off the land.

Diary of an Early American Boy: An intimate exploration of a specific homestead in 1805.

Our Vanishing Landscape: How early Americans understood, built on, and used the land.

A Museum of Early American Tools:  Handmade, amazingly-specific tools you’ve never heard of.

Spirits of ‘76: a particularly heart-rending meditation on what has been exchanged for modernity.

Lots and Lots and Lots of Trial and Error

What has taught me the most about how to rediscover a self-sufficient way of life, however, isn’t a book, documentary, or magazine.  It’s been lots of experimentation.  None of the fragments and gleanings I’ve collected mean anything if I can’t breathe life back into them through active use!  Reading about making your own dyes from tree bark, for example, is all well and good, but only by actually collecting the materials and giving it a shot will the words make real sense.  The subtle nuances and idiosyncrasies, the actual, indescribable elements of Craft when you are making things and growing things are only understood when they are actually done.  And when you’re the only one you know doing them, you have to really pay attention to your triumphs and failures!

This article may come across as a little over-dramatic and tragic in tone, but if you yourself are trying to break free from city dependency and learn how to live again, I think you understand.  It’s hard describe, but while watching footage of aging, master craftsmen at their work, I realize that I’m watching the collective knowledge of hundreds of years of fine-tuning and refinement, passed on from master to apprentice.  Now, without a tribe of master craftsmen, knowledgeable old housewives, or work-honed peasant farmers to lead the way anymore, I sense the loss of those thousands of years of refinement.  Rather than being a master, many people are considered pros if they can do any “old-fashioned” task at all.  But meditating on what’s been lost only results in mourning.  I don’t want to stay there, and if you are reading this article and understand the heart of it, neither do you.  Really, all we can do is to keep practicing, keep looking, and keep learning.  So with my patchwork homestead bulging with scavenged bits and shards of knowledge, I’ll keep trying.  I exhort you to keep trying and hunting, too.

This list in the article is but a sampling.  If you have any sources for homesteading knowledge that you’d like to add to the collection, please comment below so we can all benefit!

About the Author: First, Wren was an environmental educator and language teacher living in the city.  Then, she and her husband decided to escape from the confines of city life and its dependence, and move their family to 12 acres of land in the Ozarks. They are currently in the middle of establishing their dream of a self-sufficient, permaculture-based, off-grid homestead, one step at a time. She can be typically found armpit-deep in brush foraging, cooking on cast iron, talking to her ducks and chickens, pumping yet another bucket of water from the well, and, in quiet moments, sketching art around the homestead.

The post Seeking the Old Ways: Sources for Homesteading Knowledge appeared first on Homestead.org.

Joel Salatin has fourteen books under his belt and all of them are worth reading.  Joel owns and operates Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. His farm provides food for 6,000 families and 50 restaurants in their region.  Joel is adamant about humanely raised livestock and holistic farm practices in which each aspect works synergistically with every other aspect.  I have included two of his books on this list. The first, You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise is an excellent book for those in the beginning stages of their homesteading journey, as it shows you how to “assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities.”  While recommended to those starting out, it is also an excellent resource for those who have been homesteading for a while but find themselves stumped on a project or who want to incorporate a more holistic farming practice.

The second Joel Salatin book on this list is Polyface Micro: Success With Livestock on a Homestead Scale.  Many homesteaders find themselves waiting to incorporate livestock until they can afford a large tract of land.  This book explains why that is not necessary.  Salatin adapts many of his Polyface practices for the small-scale homesteader, showing how to increase production and keep your animals healthy.  A bonus – this book walks you through how to keep your small-scale livestock system odor-free.

Ben Haitman is the author of the third book on our list: The Lean Micro Farm: How to Get Small, Embrace Local, Live Better, and Work Less.  In a time where everyone seems to be clamoring for more, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking bigger is better.  Haitman explains not only the reasons for scaling down your farm but also provides detailed, step-by-step instructions on how you can turn a tiny piece of land into a prolific producer and turn a healthy profit.

Fourth on our list of books every homesteader should read is The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: How to Produce High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale by Jeff and Melanie Carpenter.  This is one of the more niche books on this list and I included it because herbs can be grown on some scale by anyone, anywhere.  The advice in this book – and there is a lot of it! – can be scaled down to fit your particular needs.  The Carpenters provide information on how to grow and maintain medicinal herbs, including how to deal with weeds, pests, and diseases in ways that do not contaminate the plant.  They offer growing profiles for 50 herbs and show how to harvest, process, and create value-added products from them.  This book is also a business book, offering advice for profit maximization.  Chapter Five, “Thinking Like a Business Manager” offers solid advice for how to run your herb farm as a legitimate business.  It is my favorite chapter because any homestead venture could benefit from this practical business advice.

Ben Falk, author of The Resilient Farm & Homestead, Revised and Expanded Edition: 20 Years of Permaculture & Whole Systems Designs is packed with information on greenhouses, creating microclimates, homesteading with children, permaculture beekeeping, and designing resilient energy systems.  Some books that focus on whole system designs are overly technical for the average person to get much benefit from, but Falk’s writing is concise and easy to understand. Falk adds even more value to this book with appendixes such as “ A Resilient Home Curriculum Outline,” “Crucial Skill List for Emergencies,” and “Homestead Vulnerability Checklist and Strategy Summary to Reduce Vulnerability in Acute Events.”

Another niche book, Raising Resilient Bees: Heritage Techniques to Mitigate Mites, Preserve Locally Adapted Genetics, and Grow Your Apiary by Eric and Joy McEwen, is sixth on our list of learn to earn homesteading books.  The McEwens walk readers through topics like how we can naturally rear queens and select for resilient genetic lines, how to establish a profitable apicentric beekeeping business, and how to rear bees with characteristics suitable to their specific locale.  Chapter Two, “The Tenets of Natural Nest Beekeeping” provides a lot of inspiration backed by information on the importance of changing the way we approach beekeeping.

Seventh on our list is John Jeavons’ How to Grow More Vegetables, Ninth Edition (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land With Less Water Than You Ever Could Imagine is another book that proves you don’t need a lot of land to produce more than enough food to feed your family and make a living.  Jeavons offers practical advice on how to work with nature’s cycles, increase the productivity of your soil, increase plant productivity, and minimize water usage.  With careful planning and attention to detail, it is amazing how much food a small piece of land will support.

The Bio-Integrated Farm: A Revolutionary Permaculture-Based System Using Greenhouses, Ponds, Compost Piles, Aquaponics, Chickens, and More by Shawn and Stephanie Jadricek is the eighth book on our list.  This book is fascinating and will save you a ton of time and energy in the long run by sticking to the permaculture rule that every aspect of the homestead must perform at least three functions and each of the functions must support the others.  The Jadriceks outline projects such as water storage ponds, greenhouses, compost heat extraction, pastured chicken systems, and innovative rainwater-harvesting systems.  An example of permaculture at its best, their greenhouse not only extends the growing season but also collects rainwater and is used as an aquaponic system and a heat generator.

If you are interested in both the meaning of self-sufficiency and brass tacks self-sufficiency skills, John Seymour and Alice Water’s book, The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Classic Back-to-Basics Guide to Going Off the Grid is a classic that has been the best friend to hundreds of thousands of people wanting a more self-sufficient lifestyle. There is not a lot this book doesn’t cover and I am sure you will find something in this book you have not yet tried on your homestead.  In addition to full-size homesteads, they also cater to small homesteaders with sections on community gardens, self-sufficiency in city settings, and the one-acre farm.

Finally, number ten on the list is a book you are probably familiar with. Carla Emery in The Encyclopedia of Country Living offers us over 1000 pages of traditional skills that typify country living at its best.  And you don’t even need to live in the country to do most of them.  This book provides readers with an excellent idea of the things every homesteader should know.  You don’t have to do every project in the book, but you will want to!

Ten books are a lot to read on a busy homestead, but each of these will help you become more efficient, more confident, and more profitable.

The post Learn to Earn: Ten Books Every Homesteader Should Read appeared first on Homestead.org.

And then comes winter. Even though there’s plenty left to do, there’s no denying the long, still pause that falls over the land as the sky darkens around 4:30 pm, trees stand stark and bare, and the animals just hunker down in their warm barn, waiting for the cold to pass.

With the long, dark night, the cozy warmth of the woodstove, and the comfort of breads and pies baking in the oven, it’s time to pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea, and finally take some time to read a book. After all the hard work we’ve done all year, I’d say we’ve earned it!

Here are some recommended books, then, to accompany you by the fireside. Whether you’re looking for a good story, a new hobby, some encouragement to keep at your homestead dreams, or just want to learn from the past, I bet anyone can find something here to enjoy. You may be able to find these books at your local library. If yours is an endearingly small, rural establishment that can’t possibly hold all the books you’d hope it could, however, check out the link given at the end of each recommendation; if it’s available on the immensely useful site, Archive.org, it’ll take you to an online copy of the book that is free to borrow and read. Otherwise, we’ve linked to where you can purchase the book.

Farmer Takes A Wife, by John Gould

The basic premise of this autobiographical story is simple: a farmer marries his city-born love, then brings her back to the family farm where she joyfully sets to “naturalizing” herself into the rural setting of 1940s Maine. Reading this book is like swiping the whipped cream off of a fresh-baked, pumpkin pie: sweet, slightly fluffy, and very easy to like. The author uses some clever turns of phrase that carry a subtle humor that is completely absent in today’s often dull, one-dimensional writing. The bulk of the story is also is full of unforgettable anecdotes about his local yokels, the lore of the Maine countryside, and surprisingly insightful observations about humans in general.

Furthermore, as a book published in 1946, it is unsurprisingly (and somewhat refreshingly) absent of modern identity politics and our new fascination of mining for things to cancel. The eponymous farmer’s wife is very, truly happy to be a farmer’s wife and to learn all the feminine skills of her new, vitally important role in the kitchen of her farmhouse (I particularly enjoy the farmer’s tribute to his wife’s elegant pie-crusts and their willfully wasteful “economy” of heating up the whole wood-fired oven for a single apple pie). If this book offends you, perhaps a break from the hamster wheel of the 24-hour news cycle to bake a scratch apple pie of your own would change your point of view.

Find Farmer Takes A Wife on Archive.org here.

American Yesterday, by Eric Sloane

Choosing just one of the many excellent books in Eric Sloane’s repertoire is next to impossible, but I covered my eyes, pointed, and picked one. I hope it whets your appetite to seek out more of the endearingly and meticulously illustrated books by this historical and artistic curmudgeon. Sloan is the grumpy grandpa we all want to hear stories from, propping his feet up by the woodstove, cracking nuts, and telling stories of the days like they “use’ta be.”

And reading American Yesterday is a great place to start—this is no dry historical tome. It’s an illustrated, deeply insightful look into what this country once was without deviating into bland, nostalgic adoration or sensationalized depictions of the “hardships of the past.” I found, personally, that walking the streets and cobblestone alleys of 1700s America and learning about the occupations that time has forgotten, the buildings with fascinating uses that we now don’t understand, and the slower cadence to life conjures a sense of loss in our progress.Diary of an Early American Boy, Our Vanishing Landscape, A Reverence for Wood, and Spirits of ‘76 get just as many recommendations as this book. If you can find any of these, read them!

Find American Yesterday on Archive.org here.

Second-Person Rural, by Noel Perrin

I’ve not been able to track down a free copy of Noel Perrin’s first book, First-Person Rural, but I have heartily enjoyed his unintended second installment in an unintended series. His first book largely focused on the how-tos of homesteading. This second one, however, focuses more on the intangible whys. In a set of delightful essays, from cider-making with children (not a straightforward task) to the psychoanalysis of whether you’re the sort of person to entice your cows with a bucket or chase them from behind, his comforting prose skillfully captures the otherwise indescribable moments of farm life that the friends we left in the city just don’t get.

Perrin is a back-to-the-lander himself, new enough to the homesteading scene that he can sometimes see the things that those who grew up in the backwoods may take for granted. His appetizer-sized chapters are easy and enjoyable to read and they absolutely demand an afghan and a quiet evening to enjoy them.

Find Second-Person Rural on Archive.org here.

Restoration Agriculture, by Mark Shepard

Mark Shepard takes on our inherited way of industrialized agriculture and not only casts a vision of what a better way of life it could be, but he also lives it daily. His living-what-he-preaches experiments at his New Forest Farm have turned a used-up field on the verge of desertification into a thriving permaculture savannah full of life, food, and self-replenishing fertility. If you’re unfamiliar with permaculture, this book is a thrilling introduction. And if you’re familiar with the concept, this book is an encouraging road map for What Could Be at your own property.

Through scientific analysis, dirt-under-the-fingernails practicality, insightfully written prose, and a keen eye for the way that the natural world functions, Shepard gives real instruction and advice on how to take any area of land and work with, not against, its natural features to grow food on a sustainable, profitable, and self-sufficient scale. If you have a homestead, this book could be revolutionary in how you see and use your property.

This one’s not on Archive.org yet, but you can buy Restoration Agriculture on Amazon here.

Herbal Handbook For Farm and Stable, by Juliette de Bairacli Levy

If you’ve ever gotten fed up with chemical-based, artificial means of trying to care for your livestock, this is a fantastic book to add to the shelf. Juliette de Bairacli Levy was a true healer and adventurer, traveling through much of Europe and the United States treating animals with her natural methods and deep understanding of plants.

Utilizing her methods of animal management changes the relationship between homesteader and livestock. Rather than forcing these animals to bend to our increasingly warped and artificial will, it seeks to restore balance to their health by letting them follow their natural design. Juliette clearly understood how animals functioned on animal terms, rather than human terms, and her gentle therapies and treatments are natural and effective.

This book covers many animals on the homestead, including the often-overlooked chicken. Not just a series of treatments, it also covers the all-important—yet frequently neglected—role of prevention through maintaining a healthy environment for the animals described. I use this book often, and wouldn’t be without it!

Even if you’re on the fence with herbal remedies, I challenge you to give her book a thumb-through. Her experience-based advice and recommendations will certainly give you something to think about.

This one’s not on Archive.org yet. You can buy Herbal Handbook For Farm and Stable on Amazon here.

The Last Whole Earth Catalogue

I don’t know how to define this document. It’s 400 pages too long to be a magazine, but it’s certainly not a book… though there is a strange little novel hidden in the margins. It’s not an anthology of 1972 homesteading magazine articles, though there are useful articles throughout the whole thing on self-sufficient, DIY endeavors. Parts of it are certainly NSFW. There are listings for off-grid supplies, gardening tools, and books alongside poetry, and interviews suffused with the countercultural, anti-war sentiment characteristic of the times in which it was created. And all of it is crammed-to-the-edges in a claustrophobic layout that would give a modern graphic designer heart palpitations.

The Last Whole Earth Catalogue feels like the distilled essence of an entire generation of disaffected hippies, commune-founders, back-to-the-landers, beatniks, and builders. It’s weird. Like, really weird. But it’s weirdly fascinating. It was originally conceived to give folks alternatives to their inherited consumptive lifestyles and connect them to the land and each other in authentic ways. You’re bound to find something you disagree with, something you feel passionate about, and learn something you didn’t know before. It’s an adventure to leaf through its many, many pages.

Find Last Whole Earth Catalogue on Archive.org here. You can get a hard copy on Amazon here.

Propaganda, by Edward Bernays

This may seem an odd inclusion in this list of homesteading and farming-themed books, but I think it’s a required read for anyone looking to be more self-sufficient. Certainly not the most comforting of next-to-the-fire reads, it is nonetheless a fascinating document to understand how so many of the things that are now commonplace in our cultural world came to be. The title may make you think that it is some fringey “conspiracy theory” book, but I would contest that it is merely a documentation of conspiracy facts. This book was originally written to exhibit Edward Bernays’ methods of mass manipulation and the “engineering of consent” (his words, not mine) to his clients. Clients like the President of the United States, CBS, the American Tobacco Company, General Electric, and Procter & Gamble, just to name a few.

Though homesteaders can be as varied as they come, I think it’s a safe assumption to believe that they are alike in that they largely want to make their own decisions on how to live their own lives. If you want to understand how you have been actively manipulated to believe that you need to live the way that They have told you to live and think the way They have told you to think, this book is an excellent way to pull back the veil and declare some mental and psychological freedom.

Find Propaganda on Archive.org here, or get your own copy on Amazon here.

Art Of Fermentation, by Sandor Katz

Once upon a time, most humans ate fermented food daily. Our breads, cheeses, meats, drinks, and vegetables were all teeming with vigorous bacterial life that made them taste interesting and be easy to digest in our balanced guts. Now, in modern times, we have banished bacteria from our plates, and in many cases, our good health along with it. But you don’t have to take my word for it—take Sandor Katz’.

In this award-winning, deliciously-thick, brick of a book, he explores how to ferment pretty much anything you can think of (and several things you may not have thought of). As you leaf through the chapters of recipes, scientific explanations, personal anecdotes, and historical practices, you won’t get the sense that fermentation is some difficult-to-understand, esoteric practice. It will seem accessible, important… even fun and exciting!

When I first tried my hand at fermenting, I was intimidated, convinced that I would do something wrong and then Botulism would creep out of the wallpaper like a boogeyman and attack my family. Many experiments, accompanied by the encouraging, you-can-do-this tone in Katz’s book, have completely changed my mind, and the state of my kitchen. Thumb through it and I imagine you might feel the same.

This one’s not on Archive.org yet, but you can buy Art Of Fermentation from the Amazon here.

Handmade, by Drew and Louise Langsner

This book is hard to find, but if you can, it’s well worth the read. From October 1971 to October 1972, Drew and Louise Langsner lived off-grid and traveled a tangled path from Turkey to Finland. But rather than taking a touristy pleasure-tour, they set out to find and learn from the fading reserves of the self-sufficient, pre-industrial peasantry that remained. They followed shepherds in Greece, walked the terraced garden hillsides of Yugoslavia, and wove baskets in Bulgaria. They adopted local customs to try to learn how to live with—not on—the land, to produce very little waste, and to understand the extent and limits of natural resources. True to the title of their book, they argue that the highest quality craft is handmade, and that the most successful farming ever done—in terms of sustained yield, soil, maintenance, and food quality—is done by hand and animal labor.

As I wrote in my earlier article, “Seeking the Old Ways“, a book like this touches on something that most of us no longer have: firsthand experience with traditional, self-sufficient ways of life. To those of us trying to rediscover this lifestyle, it’s a heart-wrenching document of loss and a deeply encouraging record of what could yet be. Travel with Drew and Louise, try cooking the recipes they’ve recorded, and dream about what your own two hands can still be capable of.

This one’s not on Archive.org yet. You’ll have to find Handmade from your library or try to track down a copy on eBay.

Stalking The Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons

If you want to begin foraging this spring, it’s almost a rite of passage to read Euell Gibbons’ books on the subject. None of his works are more well known than Stalking the Wild Asparagus, and the praise is well-deserved. Strolling through his chapters of edible wild plants is like strolling down a country lane with an elder, meeting his good friends along the way. Not only does he write about collecting these edible delights with the familiarity only gained by a lifetime of wilderness wandering, but he also gives plentiful recipes on how to enjoy your wild haul. Spring will come sooner than you think, and with it comes dozens of opportunities to reap where you did not sow.

And once you’re done with that one, you’ll have to pick up copies of Samuel Thayer’s three foraging books—The Forager’s Harvest, Nature’s Garden, and Incredible Wild Edibles. Sometimes called the “Modern-day Euell Gibbons,” Thayer has carried on the legacy of loving, gathering, eating, and teaching about the abundance that grows right outside our backdoors. Thayer’s books cover plant identification with far greater detail than Gibbon’s, too, giving photographic and botanical clarity to foragers both new and old.

Find it on Archive.org here, or get a hard copy on Amazon here.

About the Author: Wren was once a teacher living in the city.  But she and her husband decided to make their escape from the confines of modernity and its dependence and move their family to 12 acres of land in the Ozarks. They are currently in the middle of establishing an off-grid homestead, and now happily spend their days as modern peasants, seeking out, learning, and trying to preserve the old skills that their urban backgrounds never gave them.

The post A Cozy Winter Reader: Great Homesteading Books to Curl Up With appeared first on Homestead.org.

“Here” said my husband; “I think this will be interesting.”

Keep in mind that what my husband reads and comprehends and what I read and comprehend are generally not even in the same bookstore, much less on the same shelf.

The first chapter of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front by Sharon Astyk had me hiding under my chair in tears and with a tummy ache.  Really.

Luckily, I’m also one of those people who must finish a started book, no matter how dismal, how incomprehensible, or how stupid it is.  Normally this has me setting the book ablaze after the last word, and cursing whoever gave me it/told me to read it.

I say luckily, because after the initial assault on my sanity and meager hold on a sense of security for my family, this one is a keeper.

Sharon talks about where our lives are headed, in our current economy.  And though we, and most of our friends, are striving for rural living, Sharon talks us through the Way Things Could Be from an urban/suburban perspective.

No matter… issues like health care, family relationships, community, small-scale gardening and food production, energy conservation (or elimination for the need of excess energy usage), are going to be pressing concerns for us all.

And to make up for the first frightening pages, Sharon is positive enough to not only end on a good note (that a changed world will not necessarily be a bad world), but she gives us 23 pages of Appendices: “Things you can do to get ready for peak oil, climate change and difficult times”, and “The best books about nearly everything”.

Because I don’t want to just HEAR about my world changing, I want to DO something, to know I’m providing for my family the best I can.

But the best thing about this book is that it’s not written by some professor, or some economist, or some career environmentalist (although they all have their place, and have valuable knowledge to share).

Sharon Astyk is a mom.  She’s a wife.  And she’s admittedly human.  When asked how she Does It All—wife, mother, writer, small farmer—she gives an answer that’s so familiar to me personally, “If I look at what I didn’t do, at the mess, the chaos, the exhaustion, the failures, it doesn’t look so hot.  So I try not to look, and hope to do better tomorrow.  So if I have one bit of advice for parents of young children—and everyone who is facing hard times, a big learning curve and not enough time—it is this: do the best you can, trust yourself, and be pleased with what you do.  Embrace the chaos.”

This is a woman I could easily call ”friend”. You can buy a copy of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front by Sharon Astyk on Amazon.

The post Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front by Sharon Astyk Review appeared first on Homestead.org.

Like most homesteaders, gardeners, or folks who are still in the dreaming and planning stage for their first homestead, I devour all the garden and farm books I can get my hands on.

I’m a sucker for any shiny new book with bright photographs of vegetables on the cover, even though I can usually tell at a glance if it won’t be very helpful to me.  After so many years as a desert gardener, I learned to sift through the information in books more geared to “Normal Places,” and to seek out more detailed books once I had gained enough from the “Beginners.”

This is not to say that I still don’t thoroughly enjoy the beginners’ books, too.  They’re often bursting with enthusiasm and encouragement, which every gardener needs from time to time.  And it never fails that I will pick up at least one brilliant tip in an otherwise unenlightening book. (Like planting peas thickly in a gutter, then sliding them into a trench when they’re mature enough.  I gleaned this gem from a book written by Huw Richards in Wales—an environment so different from mine in Las Vegas that there was little else that applied to me).

Last year brought me a handful of particularly good “homesteady” books, some new on the market and some just new to me.  I was feverishly preparing for the Big Move to our new homestead in Southwest Colorado, so this stack was never far from me.

Here are my five favorite homesteading books.

The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs by Joel Salatin.  Not at all the guide to raising pigs that I thought I was buying, this older work of Joel Salatin, the “Lunatic Farmer,” is an absolute must-read for any person with even a fleeting interest in our relationship to food.  Written in Joel’s journalist-turned-farmer whimsical, humorous, and deadly serious tone, Pigness will make you ponder the subject of food deeper than you ever have before.  He shares openly the struggle of living in the divide between two worlds that seem to oppose each other at every turn: that of the “left-leaning tree huggers” and the “scoffing Christian evangelicals” who have historically been too quick to vilify anyone who questions the mainstream modern factory food complex.  With love, gentleness, and piercing insights, Joel invites the two sides to consider (deeply and honestly) the truth and goodness to be found in the other’s camp.  If this doesn’t shake your worldview—no matter your starting point—I don’t know what will.  I recommend the audio version on Audible, as Joel’s voice is now quite familiar to us and it’s possible to sift your compost while listening.

Polyface Micro: Success With Livestock on a Homestead Scale is another highly enjoyable book by Joel Salatin.  I needed a thorough guide on all aspects of starting a homestead, and Polyface Micro did not disappoint!  Deliberately avoiding details that have been shared in multiple other well-known sources, Joel seeks to bring to the sustainability table fresh ideas and eminently practical solutions.  This is one of his newer books, released in 2021. It’s a prime example of how a balance of reverence for the “old ways,” coupled with a healthy use of modern technology can result in a highly productive, disease-free homestead that respects God’s design.  Want to know the best practices for raising pigs? In the book. Chickens? Yep. Rabbits…wait, CAN you put rabbits in a rabbit tractor? Of course.  This will be my go-to reference for all things sanitation, fencing, grazing development, milking cows, and how best to harvest rainwater.  Paired with the gigantic Polyface Designs, which I turned over to my carpenter-Dad to pick out his favorite projects, owning this book makes me feel invincible as a new homesteader.

The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon (with Erica Reinheimer).  When I first heard that Steve Solomon had recanted on some of the concepts of his earlier works, namely Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times, I was instantly curious.  Growing Food has been a favorite reference for serious food producers for decades—just not me.  Why?  Because of the despair I felt upon reaching the last page, only to read that his methods would work for anyone, anywhere—except the desert. If Steve was saying, “I was wrong,” I wanted to know why.  When I cracked open The Intelligent Gardener, I began to think I wasn’t actually going to know why, because folks, this stuff is waaaayyyy over my head.  Charts, chemistry… MATH?! Shudder.  I forged ahead anyway after Steve assured the reader that he’d break everything down into simple terms.  The premise of the book is a little surprising to the organic gardening world: he challenges the notion that growing organically, with little external inputs, will automatically result in food that is better for you. If his own organically-grown food (which was the bulk of his diet) was so healthy, why were his teeth loose and his energy levels so low?  His quest to discover what practices can truly result in nutrient-dense food led to a deep-dive into mineralization, complex chemical processes, and the simple discovery that if you don’t want to be part of the “Shit Method of Agriculture (SaMOA)”, you’ll pay 30 bucks for a real soil test.  Well, I don’t want to be a “SaMOA” grower, so of course I got the test as soon as I could sneak onto the property that was not yet ours on paper.  I would hand this book to any serious gardener, along with a few plastic bags and a clean trowel to dig up a sample.

The First-Time Homesteader: A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting and Loving Your New Homestead by Jessica Sowards. Who doesn’t want to spend more time with Jess?! Delivering the same gentle, encouraging spirit that thousands have come to know and love from her wildly popular YouTube channel, Roots and Refuge, Jess makes us all believe that we CAN grow food (and “something lovely”). With gorgeous photos on every page, Jess first defines what a homesteader is (hint: you don’t have to have any land), then takes you by the hand to rekindle a desire you might not have known you had.  If you once were drawn to the beauty and peace and simplicity of a sustainable life, but somehow lost your way, just grab this book. “Turn your waiting room into a classroom,” “Do it afraid,” “Fear pushes, but wisdom leads,” and “Store-bought tomatoes taste like disappointment” will soon be regular phrases in your vernacular, and you’ll be on your way.

The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith.  Confession: I am only halfway through this one.  Published by Storey, a well-respected name in the animal husbandry and gardening world, this fits in the “indexed, glossaried, and cumbersome” category on my shelves.  You can’t enjoy this book with a cat in your lap, because you’ll want to take notes.  By teaching the WORD system (Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, Deep soil), Ed lays out a plan for gardening that takes a novice all the way to advanced techniques for a productive harvest. I can’t look at a shovel today without “judging its merits,” or read a label on a pesticide without recalling that there “isn’t such a thing as a pesticide.”

If your spring is anything like mine, with many false starts and “afterthought” snow flurries, you’ll find this a good time to finish up your winter reading list. Because if you can’t actually be growing stuff, the next best thing is to read about growing stuff.

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Forty Acres and a Fool: Life Beyond the Sidewalks

“Transplanting oneself from an urban setting to the rural countryside or small town is not just a matter of moving from one place to another, an apartment to a house, a tenth of an acre plot to fifty acres, a street to a gravel road, a zip code shared by thousands to one that is exclusive to your driveway.  Believe me, when you go rural you are entering another world.”

If you’re one of the ones that have already pulled up stakes and made your move, Forty Acres and a Fool can still answer some questions you may have lingering and be a very enjoyable read.  You’ll travel down the bumpy roads of small-town life as Roger Welsch learns how to settle in and carve out his own very unique niche and approach to living beyond the sidewalks.

Roger Welsch walks you through how he found his home in the country, and how he followed his heart to get there.  His decision to move to a very different sort of place than he had ever known was one seconded by his wife, Linda.  Roger was becoming increasingly unhappy with his life as a college professor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He didn’t like the way college life was developing, and they didn’t like the way he chose to run his classes; Roger Welsch was a free spirit then and now.  His way of thinking didn’t have to change in order for him to accommodate the small town life he chose, but maybe yours will need to changes.  If you move to the country with the wrong mindset, you’ll miss out on a lot of the pleasantness of the life around you.

Moment of Truth

One day he had a moment of truth with himself: he had to admit that the life he was living wasn’t making him happy, and that he felt unfulfilled.  He and his wife Linda thought about it long and hard, weighing the pros and cons of uprooting themselves and their young daughter to move to No Man’s Land and live a life remote.  Could they do it?  Should they do it?

They decided they had to answer the call of his souls; that’s when they bought 60 acres of land in Dannebrog, Nebraska (when it was under four feet of snow.)  You’ve heard the story of moving from city to country many times, but never has a book covered the basics of what it takes to actually make that move in such an entertaining way.  Roger Welsch approaches it from every view point of view, and takes you through the process step by step, almost holding your hand.  You’ll laugh to hear how he discovered things that every city boy who moves to the country finds out the hard way.

It was a tough decision for he and his wife to make and one that many of us who have come to the point in our lives of reevaluation, have had to make.  To leave behind the old and take up the new is never as easy as it looks; to throw down the gauntlet to Mother Nature, and face down our doubts takes courage.  Roger and Linda Welsch decided the move was something they had to do; they decided it was worth the struggle and all the inconvenience and upheaval it would bring.

Transplanting Yourself

Forty Acres and a Fool is a book that strives to bring to the readers’ attention the pros and cons, the ups and downs, the expected and the unexpected of dismantling your entire life and rebuilding it in a totally different setting and possibly changing your perspective on life and living itself.  According to Roger, “You’re going to have to adjust to another world; if you think that world is going to adjust to you, you have another think coming.”

The Act, or Process, of Adjusting

Roger Welsch asks are you ready for that adjustment?  The rural world isn’t going to adjust to you; at the same time you don’t have to completely change who you are, but you will need to make an honest effort to fit in.  Remember, you’re the outsider; how far you’ll go to fit in is up to you.  Are you going to go out of your way to meet the neighbors, attend local events, hang out at the little cafe in town?  As an outsider, you’ll have a unique perspective on small-town America, thus you’ll be able to hone in on the goodness of your new neighbors, as well as the unpleasant.  They’ll have as unique a perspective on you as you do on them.   Expect that you’ll come under at least some scrutiny from the folks that have lived in your new home all or most of their lives.

Consider your move from all angles; are you willing to quit your job if you need to?  Is your spouse ready to do the same?  How will this move affect your children?  How about extended family members?  Will you be ok with being possibly much farther away from them?  Are you prepared for the quiet, because the silence in the country can be very loud indeed. You won’t hear traffic or people as much as you might be used to, and while silence can be nice, it can also be a bit unsettling, Are you prepared to scale down your life, to live more simply, yet work harder at it?  Or do you want to bring the city into the country?  Because if you do, be prepared for some resistance from folks that want to keep the country, the country.

What does country life really mean to you?  When you think about actually living the country life, what comes to mind?  A little log cabin tucked away in the woods, with a pond and lots of privacy?  Do you see yourself on a tractor bringing in a harvest?  Are you walking in the woods that surround your home collecting herbs and wildflowers?  How big is the nearest town, and how close do you want to be to it? Do you want mountains, pastures or cattle grazing ground?  Spend as much time as you can visualizing and then go out and actually look around, ask questions, explore every avenue.  Leave no stone unturned.  After you find your land and get down to the hard work of the simple life, consider where you’ll get the help you will definitely need to get things done in a timely manner.

Get Help

Look for help everywhere you can.  The AG Extension Service, state and federal roads and highways departments, water services, Wildlife Federation to name a few.  Community colleges and state universities have extension services too and you should go to all the exhibits, fairs and workshops in your new area.

What kind of tools will you need to be a self-reliant homesteader?  Start with a toolbox that has the basic household tools.  What kind of work will you be doing around your place?  Carpentry, painting, gardening and roofing are a few of the tasks you might have on your list.  If you’ve never done any of that sort of thing before, it’s a good idea to start with a book on the subject.  Read all you can and then get started.

You’ll have fun learning how things get done in the country; please don’t underestimate word of mouth. If you need to sell something, or buy something, just put the word out.  You’ll make a lot of good deals this way, and you’ll probably become a shrewd deal-maker yourself.  You should know that country folk have their own brand of street-smarts.  It’s a street smarts and cunning born of thinking on their feet and years of depending on themselves.  It’s a fierce brand of self-reliance.

Small Town Protocol is Real

Can you make a living in your chosen small town?  I’m sure you know that that’s asking a lot of any small town, unless you are one of its business owners.  Working in a small town means making a living from your friends and neighbors, and that can easily backfire on you if something happens that upsets the village applecart.  So be on your guard if you plan to work in your small town and you’re not a native of that town, or related to anyone who is.

Small towns have pecking orders, and woe be to you if you are seen as not respecting that order.  Roger Welsch states that, “Frankly, I think the only way you can make a living with a business in a small town is if your business does not cater to trade from that town.”

The Big Myth

I believe there is a big myth circulating out there; it says that country living is cheaper than city living.  Don’t believe that until you consider the costs you’re going to run into living outside the city limits.  Land can be expensive; houses can be, too.  And if you want land with a good house on it, you may suffer a form of sticker shock when you see the price.  I believe developers are onto people that want the country life, and they, the developers, are busily gobbling up land… so the myth of cheap country living is simply a myth and becoming more so every day.  Gasoline is often more expensive in a small town; if you have to drive to work this can really add up.  Groceries can be more expensive in a small town too, so you might want to put in a garden.  You do know how to plant, maintain and cultivate a vegetable garden don’t you?  And if you own land, don’t forget about the high property taxes.  Because there is so much less industry in the country, property taxes are necessarily higher.  You may end up paying dearly for that land you just had to have.

Things You Might Not Have Thought About

Shorter commutes, slower pace of life, less traffic, lower crime, nicer neighbors.  All of those things can be true and maybe they are true in the community you chose, but at the rate that people are moving to the country, these factors are quickly changing.  There seem to be lots of folks who want to move to the country and drag the city along with them.  They want all the city conveniences in the country, and get upset when they have to drive 30 miles to the nearest grocery store.

If you’re an artist, many small towns are known for being meccas for artists and artisans; while this is certainly the case for many a small burg, don’t count on it.  If you’re an artist that’s great, and a small town might be the perfect place to showcase your talents, but it might not be.  It could be that the town you choose is known only as a farming or ranching community and you may be the only artist in town.  On the other hand, you might find yourself in a thriving artist community where your talents will blossom.

Wherever you decide to move to in small-town America, don’t leave common sense out of your decision.  In the end, where you end up might have to do with where you end up getting a job and/or how far you are from friends and family, or where you can find the best schools for your children.  You’ll never be able to anticipate every problem or every joy that will come along with your country living experience, but if the longing to live the country life is in your heart and it just won’t quit, then in the spirit of Roger Welch, “Just do it!”

Raising Sheep the Modern Way by Paula Simmons: A Review

The post Forty Acres and a Fool: How to Live in the Country and Still Keep Your Sanity by Roger Welsch appeared first on Homestead.org.

The area Strange has honed in on is the (real, but fictionally titled) region of Bear Lick, Kentucky. He has made a several-year study of this piece of Appalachia and its rugged band of non-conforming farmers, gardeners, and off-the-gridders.

Kentucky is a place that had the imprimatur of Daniel Boone, who imagined the meadows of Kanta-ke as an earthly paradise, open and unoccupied, a haven from the quickly crowding eastern states. But it was not as pristine as Boone imagined it. It had been visited by the Spanish explorer Desoto, whose cohort undoubtedly carried the organisms that would bring new plant life to the meadow while imparting death by disease for its Native American inhabitants. This difference in Boone’s impression and the reality is one of the first of many contrasts examined by Jason Strange in his far-reaching look at those who choose to go “back to the land.” Perhaps inspired by Boone’s vision, a variety of moderns have selected the territory in Eastern Kentucky as a place to subsist, retreat, and live out their ethos.

Some of Bear Lick’s denizens are early arrivals, children of older generations that simply lived in the harsh hills because their people been there for generations. Others—mostly children of the 1960s—came in search of the simple life, the ideal of self-sufficiency, and connection to nature. Both groups have a common vision, too. Both live like peasants in an age when most Americans slavishly crave the latest tech toys and live in crowded cities in search of the almighty dollar to buy them with.

Strange’s book begins with a neighborly pig roast hosted by Nathan, a man living off the grid, who was born in a blizzard, carried on horseback as a baby, and learned to garden, make rocking chairs and forage for wild herbs as a child. Next, the author takes part in a house-raising party hosted by Virginia, a woman who, though a skilled gardener who eschews many conveniences that most of us take for granted, still has included in her homestead some photovoltaic panels that allow her to run a laptop, some lights, and a potter’s wheel. Throughout the book, he returns from time to time to recall both these events, using the occasion and the participants as examples of the many points he seeks to emphasize: social, creative, pragmatic, communal, and spiritual. Nathan, for example, plows in rows and might use a bit of weed killer if absolutely necessary, while Virginia plants randomly and covers everything with mulch. But… both of them raise chickens.

Strange picks apart the principles of capitalism and the industrial age that have driven some apparently sensible people to the homesteading alternative in Eastern Kentucky. He describes his stint in a factory where many locals choose to earn a minimal wage through hard, boring, repetitious tasks. This leads to the conclusion that the back roads and wooded hills of Bear Lick provide, for its voluntary population of homesteaders, a “shelter from the machine.” Though some homesteaders do work from home, the more they can provide for themselves, the less they must live in dread of domination by corporations, which some of Bear Lick’s residents regard as akin to Satan himself.

Dr. Jason G. Strange is the Chair of the Department of Peace and Social Justice Studies at Berea College, the first non-segregated, coeducational college in the South, founded on abolitionist principles. It is still unique, and remarkable, for offering free, four-year education. As a dedicated teacher with degrees in Biology and Geography, Strange was voted “Funniest Professor” by Berea College students in 2014. With regular contact among students from varying economic strata, he is well qualified to compare, in depth, the schooling of the poor to that of the affluent.

He is diligent in pointing out that many unschooled, or lesser-educated, people may read more, and speak more articulately, than their better-schooled fellow Americans, citing what he calls “practical intellectualism”—the ability to apply knowledge rather than simply read and regurgitate information from books. One of his Bear Lick buddies, Cody, still gets mad when he remembers correcting a teacher in his rural school when she said that airplanes fly only to eight thousand feet. Cody had just been on one and the pilot said they were flying at thirty-two thousand. For trying to set his teacher straight on the facts, he was paddled by the principal. This can be seen in contrast to many of the Whole Earth Catalog set, who were sent to the best academies and may have advanced degrees. Yet they learned about living a simple life from the accounts of others—like Wendell Berry and Helen Nearing, who did it and wrote about it—and fell into that lifestyle, took up the homesteading banner, with as much dedication as Cody and other locals.

Shelter from the Machine also takes a hard look at social mores and how, or if, they affect the rationale for homesteading. As is well known, many proponents of self-sufficiency come to that belief through religion: Mennonites, Amish, Quakers. More evangelical faiths have an embedded disdain for the things of this world that makes it easy for folks like Nathan to live in an electricity-less cabin, and for one of his friends to conclude that crude oil is the veritable Beast of the Apocalypse by which we are all infested.

On the other tip of the spectrum, one of Jason Strange’s Bear Creek contacts is a lesbian; is there any connection between the fact that Kentucky passed laws as early as 1973 (since overturned) preventing or forbidding same-sex marriage and her wish to find a peaceful retreat in the backwoods?

Another of the thorny ironies that Strange pulls out is that while the “bohemian” crowd is preparing for a physical collapse brought on by “ecological dislocation,” their devout, traditionalist neighbors are awaiting the “rapturous moment” when Christ returns in glory. Yet Strange sees this issue as another that, paradoxically, seems to bind these two groups—the fundamentalist and the secular or spiritually eclectic—together. Because of their convictions, both are dedicated to the notion of the End Times: the apocalypse, global warming, pandemic, or some version of worldwide politico/governmental catastrophe as predicted and promulgated by scientists, philosophical pundits, and Bible scholars alike. Both groups see themselves as living a kind of constant protest against “the way things are” in factories, government, agribusiness, schools, television, the internet, despoiled wildernesses, blighted cities, and even some churches.

Professor Jason Strange takes a hard look at capitalism, as the title implies, since that system is very often the inimical force providing the motivation for an individual or familial return to Edenic settings like Bear Lick. Capitalism makes good things happen, no doubt. People are pleased to buy cheaper goods or more expensive ones of presumed higher quality. But the capitalist system often operates on the basis of underpaying the worker and undercutting the competition, so people are its victims, too. Strange suggests that even those residents of Bear Lick who depend on “real” jobs are also being shielded from the worst abuses of the system by openly and avidly embracing non-capitalist work, and with it, a vital, if unstated, kind of collective, or some would say Christian, model: sharing without profit, giving back to, and receiving from, one’s neighbors and one’s environment.

All of the aforementioned contrasts and comparisons are examined in notable and scholarly detail by professor Jason Strange, even as he maintains an attraction to, and emphasis on, the warmth of the real people of Bear Lick, people whom he has investigated and interviewed, and with whom he has worked, partied, and communed. His book has many moments of humor and presents a rich array of folk wisdom imparted by real folk.

In both groups—whether one calls them hicks or home people; hippies or nonconformists—Strange finds certain significant similarities. Less protected from and more open to the vagaries of Mother Nature, all must face each day with a willingness to, as my mother used to say, “make do with what have.” Strange concludes with the quiet suggestion that perhaps the important common factor among them is an unspoken wish to live “without a chief.”

The post Shelter from the Machine: Homesteaders in the Age of Capitalism by Jason G. Strange – A Review appeared first on Homestead.org.

Perhaps you’re wondering what sort of character would write a book review about an owner’s manual.

Well, I have to admit that I don’t have a very good excuse for this behavior, except for three things:

1. I own a Ford 8N
2. I’ve been a fan of Henry Ford since my mother read his biography to me as a small child.
3. While this probably isn’t a book that many people would choose to read for mere pleasure, if you happen to be one of the thousands of Ford 8N owners in the world, you’ll find it invaluable. Even if not, it’s an interesting period piece.

So if you’re a Ford fan or a Ford owner, you’ll find a lot of Henry as well as a lot of good plain-spoken information between these unassuming paper covers.

Not only will you learn how to fix your 8N, but how to maintain it, how to store it and even a chapter on how to plow with your matching Dearborn two-bottom plow.

If you’ve ever used a vehicle owner’s manual, you’ll probably find this one a little different. It’s only 125 pages long and small enough to fit in the pocket of your overalls, but it covers a myriad of tune-up and troubleshooting problems in a way that doesn’t require you to have a mechanic or a machine-shop at your disposal.

In fact, you’ll be surprised at how much you can do to keep your little jewel in shape with just a screwdriver and a crescent wrench.

The book is a reprint of the one that came with your tractor when it was new and is published under license to Ford Motor Company.

There’s no mention of who the author, or authors might be, but reading its down-to-earth style you have to wonder if Henry didn’t have a large part in it himself, even though the copyright is three years after his death.

Here are a few sample pages:

Forty Acres and a Fool: How to Live in the Country and Still Keep Your Sanity by Roger Welsch

Mortgage Free! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership By Rob Roy

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Beginning life anew in a country setting is a dream that many city dwellers, and even suburbanites, hold close to their hearts.  However, the move from city to country is not for everyone, as is illustrated in Lawrence Scanlan’s informative and realistic portrayal of such a move in Heading Home: On Starting Life in a Country Place.

Many have successfully “bugged out” of the city, with romantic dreams of country quilts hanging on a clothesline above a self-sufficient plot of vegetables, in a surreal green setting offering fresh, country air and sheep grazing in the pasture.  And though many of the country visions held by those willing to give up their city conveniences and even their 9-5 employment are found to actually exist in rural Canada, it is not without sacrifice and many hard-won trade-offs.  Lawrence Scanlan’s beautifully written book is a testimony to the ups AND the downs of choosing such a life and to sticking it out to make it work.

This non-fictional work is chronicled through a twelve month diary period, offering inspiration, insight, and advice from the vantage point of each month’s seasonal challenges and changes of life in the country.  Mr. Scanlon offers compelling descriptions of the sometimes challenging events, that only become such when a person lives an hour from the nearest plumber or pharmacy.  The love he possesses for the country life is quite evident, and even though his realism and practicality shine through his overall enjoyment of country life, he definitely resides whole-heartedly in the country mindset. If ever you have wanted to “make the move”, and turn in your postage stamp lot for a couple of acres, you will find much-needed advice and inspiration in this unique story.

In his prologue, Lawrence Scanlon writes,

“At the heart of the book is the notion that for many of us, place now matters a great deal.  The book poses the question, Why not a small place, a country place?  Canadians have long huddled in cities along the southern border, as if for warmth.  We are a land blessed with land, so why do we insist on crowding the urban edge?”

This thought-provoking paragraph introduces the reader to a worthy opinion, widely held by many brave 21st century pioneers, who have given up the urban conveniences, close access to cultural events and malls, to find a larger view of our Canada, and perhaps of ourselves.  The quiet of the country coupled with the more slowly paced lifestyle is conducive to introspection and soul-searching, something Mr. Scanlon has experienced in his depiction of his family’s new life in the country.

As a former suburbanite “gone country”, I highly recommend this as a must-read for anyone posing the question of a move to the country. “Country” starts in the heart and mind before one ever finds themselves on the end of a rake and shovel.  This book will certainly help you to decide whether the “country” is for you or not.

The Humanure Handbook – A Guide to Composting Human Manure By Joseph Jenkins

Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front by Sharon Astyk Review

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